How many social media sites do you update on a regular basis?

Perhaps it would be better to rephrase the question as: How many social media sites would you like to update on a regular basis?

Ping.fm is a useful aggregation service which allows you to do just that: post content simultaneously to a large group of social media sites. It covers dozens of sites and includes these better known social networks:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• WordPress
• Tumblr
• MySpace
• LinkedIn
• Delicious

With ping.fm, you can also direct an RSS blog feed to all of your social networks.

There are other services, such as the popular Twitter client Hootsuite, that allow you to post to the biggest social networks. But if your social media strategy involves reaching audiences on a diverse set of social networks, ping.fm is definitely worth a closer look.

Over the past couple of weeks, a storm of angst has been gathering over Facebook’s new Instant Personalization Program. The program has been criticized by privacy advocates as many Facebook users are unaware that it now shares your personal information with partner websites, by default.

Here’s how you can opt out of the new instant personalization program:

In the top right hand corner of your Facebook page, click on Account and then Privacy Settings.

On the privacy settings page, click on Applications and Websites.  At the bottom, you’ll see Instant Personalization Pilot Program. Click on the Edit Setting button.

Un-check the tick box beside “Allow select partners to instantly personalize their features with my public information when I first arrive on their websites.”

That should do it.

A powerful video by the people at Socialnomics which throws a lot of compelling numbers at you. It’s great if you’re looking for an introduction to social media, or data to convince someone that it is indeed more than just a fad.